my crafty adventures

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About me

Welcome to my blog! My name is Jessica, and I'm a music professor from Kentucky. This blog details my journey into DIY style. I love to sew and knit my own clothes, and I'm a dedicated thrift store shopper! I also love fashion, so I'm attempting to marry my interests without causing myself to go bankrupt. I love bright colors, full skirts, and vintage styles. I love to answer questions, and I can be reached by email at jmills01@gmail.com.

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What I wore

It’s been a trying week… I have been sick again, and I’m working my way through a few insecurities. I’m sure that my confidence will snap back soon!

Here are my outfits this week, including things I’ve made and some of my new thrifted finds:

Thursday:

Skirt: Vogue 1132

Boots: Merona

Cardigan: Old Navy

I look so tired here… you can see the allergies around my eyes! I love this skirt, and I am always complimented on it – but I confess, it is hard to wear. It’s very overwhelming, and I lost the shirt I wore with it last year! I’m still considering ways to wear it more… I don’t think this is it. I dislike the cardigan over it, I prefer to tuck something in.

Friday

Dress: Vogue 8667

Bolero: Thrifted

Boots:

Boots success at last! I picked these up at the Designer Shoe Wearhouse, and they were inexpensive. They measure maybe 1/2″ bigger than my calves… not perfect, but close enough, especially as I had steeled myself to pay a lot for boots. They’re suede, and have a cute ruched detail on the side. I wore this outfit thrifting, and yes it is overkill but I felt good! I wear this dress a lot… it was a good choice to make, it goes with everything!

Monday

Jacket: Express, thrifted

Dress: thrifted

Boots: Kensie Girl

Total cost of this outfit? $55. Cost without the boots? $5. Oh yes, I do love thrifting. The jacket has a little metallic pinstripe. I washed both these items twice, and no Goodwill smell lingers, for those of you who mentioned that. I always double wash everything, and anything that can’t be washed gets drycleaned right away, though I confess that unless something is lined I wash everything that I thrift… I am not drycleaning something that cost a dollar. But I am not taking chances with clothing moths etc again! I really like this combo, and I bought the dress specifically so I could wear it this way.

Tuesday

Skirt: thrifted and quite old

Cardigan: Old Navy

Shoes: Sofft

Sweater tights: Hue

I’m thinking of remaking this skirt. It isn’t fancy or anything, but while I love the print I don’t love the style – it’s one of those yoked a-lines, meant to sit slightly low on the waist. Not my favorite. I like to tuck blouses in, but with these that doesn’t work so well.

Wednesday

Dress: Vogue 7617 (Vintage)

Cardigan: 525 America

Wearing purple today in support of LGBT youth, and in remembrance of those who have taken their lives due to anti-gay bullying. This is an issue close to my heart, as I lost have lost two gay friends to suicide, one in high school and the other in college. I was also bullied hardcore all through grade school, for being quiet, smart, and kind of nerdy, and I can tell you… the scars from that never truly fade. To this day I am constantly convinced that I will never live up to what other people want from me, and I am always paranoid that people will not like me.

Since I am feeling down, and remembering sad things, I’m glad to wear this cardigan… it’s so cozy that it’s like wearing a bathrobe all day!

So… it would seem that I am suffering from a bit of post self-stitched September letdown. I actually enjoyed taking photos every day, because it inspired me to be more creative with combining my outfits. But I’m not up for a totally self-stitched life (at least not yet anyway!) So instead, I will be participating in What I wore Wednesdays, from the Pleated Poppy blog. I won’t kill myself to get photos every day, and I’m still focusing on things I’ve made… though I am certainly not required! This is a good way to keep myself excitef about outfits – even during weeks like this one! I’ve got no less than three gigs this week, so I’ve been pretty much in rehearsal or teaching non-stop. I’ve had time to think about sewing, just no actual sewing time! I have been making plans, based on the lessons I learned during September, and I’ll be posting those soon. In the meantime, here are my outfits from this week!

Sunday

Sweater: Liz Clairborne

Dress: Vogue 1194

Shoes: Sofft

Not my most exciting outfit, but it fit my purposes – I was headed out to try on boots, in hope of finding a pair that would come close to fitting my legs. So I had to wear a skirt and tights. The sweater is because it was chilly, but I’m not ready for coats yet. I didn’t actually manage to find any knee high boots that fit – I bet I tried on 20 pair, but they were all large (except for a pair at Target, and those just looked cheap to me.) I did manage to buy an excellent pair of cowboy type boots at TJ Maxx for cheap, so it was not a waste!

Monday

Dress: Vogue 8667

Sweater: Old Navy, at least 8 years old

Tights: Betsey Johnson

Boots: BC

This sweater is showing some wear, but I think I got my money’s worth out of it. I ordered some cardigans from Old Navy (on clearance) so that I won’t have to pull things out of the back of the closet so often. And I love the boots – I never would have thought I would wear this type!

Tuesday

Cardigan: Simplicity 2417

Skirt: vintage

T-shirt: Merona

Shoes: Thrifted

Is anyone else watching the current season of Project Runway? I am a huge fan of Mondo, who frequently combines prints. Inspired by that, I have taken to wearing more than one pattern at a time. The cardigan is polka dotted, though it washes out in the photo.

Wednesday

Dress: Kwik Sew 3758

Belt: Forever 21

Boots: BC

And here are those boots again. I love them! The belt is instead of the belt I made for the dress – I like that it gives a little bit more of a casual look.

That’s it for this week – we’ll see how long I can keep this up! I’ll be back later with talk about my sewing plans (and maybe some time to sew? I don’t have a day off til Sunday, so perhaps not…)